can Senate, notwithstanding its
hostility to President Tyler, ratified it by a three-fourths vote. In
England more serious opposition was encountered. In Parliament the treaty
was termed "Ashburton's Capitulation," and Lord Palmerston went so far as
to attribute its concessions to Ashburton's partiality toward his American
wife. The ratification of the treaty was followed by an international
controversy known as "The Battle of the Maps." An early map found by Jared
Sparks, the American historian, in the Library of Paris, had been used in
the Senate to insure the ratification of the treaty without the knowledge
of Lord Ashburton. When this became known in England it was denounced as
underhand dealing. Frantic search in the archives of the British Museum
brought to light another map, bearing the autograph indorsement of King
George III. As it turned out, this only sustained the American contentions,
and was used in Parliament to vindicate Lord Ashburton, just as Sparks's
map had been used in behalf of Webster. Credit also belongs to Webster for
his strong stand made at the time the Hawaiian Islands were threatened by
a French expedition. It was then stated, as reiterated by President Tyler
to Congress, that, in view of the preponderant intercourse of the United
States with those islands, the American government would insist that no
European nation should colonize or possess them, nor subvert the native
governments. After a settlement of these international questions, Daniel
Webster was permitted to resign his secretaryship to join the Whig
opposition on the floor of the House. His resignation was the more readily
accepted since he was known to be out of harmony with the Administration's
designs against Mexico. As the son of President Tyler has recorded: "The
time had come when it was necessary to have in the office of the Secretary
of State one who would go the full length of the Texas question. Certainly,
that man was not Webster." In the Senate, Henry Clay resigned his seat, the
better to carry on his canvass as a candidate for the Presidency.

[Sidenote: First American submarine cable]

At the time that Charles Dickens paid his first visit to America the
agitation for a better copyright law was renewed, and was in a measure
successful. Dickens's early impressions of the United States, as published
later in England, were distinctly unfavorable to the American people. Had
he lingered longer he might have witnessed the lay